In 1996 scientists discovered a new species of dwarf toad: the Kihansi spray toad (Nectophrynoides asperginis). Although surviving on only two hectares near the Kihansi Gorge in Tanzania, the toads proved populous: around 17,000 individuals crowded the smallest known habitat of any vertebrate, living happily off the moist micro-habitat created by spray from adjacent waterfalls. Eight years later and the Kihansi spray toad was gone. Disease combined with the construction of a hydroelectric dam ended the toads’ limited, but fecund, reign. However, before the toad population collapsed completely conservationists with the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Bronx Zoo were able to establish a captive population of 499 frogs. Now, researchers are releasing a seed population of Kihansi spray toads back into their native habitat, but with one caveat: an artificial “misting system” is the only thing standing between the tiny amphibians and a second extinction — via redwolf.newsvine.com
A World War II German Enigma cipher machine is on the block at Bonhams, the London auction house, this month.
The 1941 oak model, described as an extremely rare example
, is expected to go under the hammer on 14 November for an estimated £40,000-£60,000.
In 2010, a 1939 Enigma fetched £67,250 at auction — that model was furnished with a modern power supply and had some restoration. The Bonhams machine is in working order, completely untouched and unrestored, Bonham’s Laurence Fisher, says — via redwolf.newsvine.com
— via Matt Melvin
This Triumph Bonneville 900 from the west coast of the USA is nicknamed The Inlander
. Over the years, it’s been subtly upgraded in all areas, from performance to looks. Most recently it’s been worked on by Deus, which explains the high quality of finish. The owner is a huge motorcycle aficionado, and the Bonneville is his favourite bike and everyday ride — via Bike EXIF
On 6 June Oklahoma City Zoo staffers quietly witnessed the eleventh Red Panda birth in the zoo’s history — a female. This is the first baby for Mum Jaya, who came to the zoo at the end of 2011, but the ninth cub for Yoda, the father. The newborn was named KayDee in honour of Oklahoma City Thunder player Kevin Durant — known to fans as KD — whose team won it’s first Western Conference championship on that very same night — via ZooBorns
This café fighter
is owned by Alonzo Bodden, who used the original bike as a trackday machine until a highside accident severely damaged it. Most Ducati 1098 owners would have had their bike repaired back to standard spec, but Bodden decided to give his to Nick Anglada of Florida-based Anglada Originals — via Bike EXIF
Lee Joyner‘s bronze bust of horror writer is ready to slither off its base. It’s one of many sculptures he’s made of the Cthulhu mythos — via Neatorama
The Romain Jerome diver’s watch, the Octopus, is named after the ocean giant that became a powerful symbol in Jules Verne’s famous novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. It has a 46mm steel case with bezel notched in stabilised rusted steel from the Titanic, 270m water resistance, automatic mechanical movement, one crown at 9 o’clock to set the watch and a second crown at 3 o’clock for the internal rotating bezel, a hand-engraved Octopus stamped on the case back, hours, minutes and seconds enhanced with blue emission
Superluminova — via Perpetuelle
The Russian government has opened a blacklist of websites that will be blocked from domestic internet users to avoid them harming themselves with too much information.
The new rules mean that ISPs will automatically block websites that the courts have deemed inappropriate. The law was introduced with the usual caveats about it being to protect children from online predators and to stop drug distribution, but political websites that criticise Tsar President Putin have already been blocked by the courts.
The decision on what sites are to be banned will be enacted by the sinister-sounding Roskomnadzor (AKA the Agency for the Supervision of Information Technology, Communications and Mass Media) and enforced with deep-packet inspection of all internet traffic across the country — which must be reassuring for those using Russian cloud providers — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Vampires in the modern world. What would it really be like? Take a trip on the night train in this short film produced for Stage 5 TV and find out why the cursed don’t sparkle
A Royal Australian Regiment (RAR) soldier who exposed himself to enemy fire to save his comrades during a deadly ambush in Afghanistan has been awarded the Victoria Cross at a ceremony in Canberra.
Corporal Daniel Keighran, who was serving with the 6th Battalion RAR, was recognised for his extreme bravery during the three-and-a-half hour battle which claimed the life of his mate Lance Corporal Jared MacKinney in August 2010.
The medal — Australia’s highest military honour — was presented to Corporal Keighran by Governor-General Quentin Bryce at Government House in Canberra this morning — via redwolf.newsvine.com
A newborn Malayan Tapir calf is alive and doing well thanks to the heroic efforts of two Denver Zoo staff members. On 3 September, Denver Zoo’s female Tapir, Rinny, gave birth inside the Rhino/Tapir building of Toyota Elephant Passage. Staff watched as Rinny unsuccessfully attempted to free the infant from inside its amniotic sac. Assistant Curator of Toyota Elephant Passage Rebecca McCloskey safely separated mother and calf then freed the newborn from the sac for inspection. Together with staff veterinarian Gwen Jankowski, they began providing mouth to snout rescue breaths and manually stimulated the baby for regular breathing and in order to expel liquid from his lungs. After a few minutes of rescue efforts, the infant successfully began to breathe on his own. The scene was captured on video tape inside the zoo’s Toyota Elephant Passage exhibit — via ZooBorns
Labor MP-turned-independent Craig Thomson has launched a scathing attack on his former colleagues over the issue of border protection, labelling them hypocrites and accusing them of pandering to the redneck
vote.
Mr Thomson’s outburst has been prompted by the Government’s move to excise the mainland from Australia’s migration zone, something Labor campaigned strongly against when the former Howard government tried to do it in 2006.
The move would strip away any legal advantage asylum seekers get by reaching the mainland, compared with those taken directly to an offshore processing centre.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen introduced the legislation yesterday, but Mr Thomson has declared he will vote against it — via redwolf.newsvine.com
A suspect found inside a Les Schwab Tire store in Spokane Valley after an alarm went off told deputies it was neither his groin nor his meth found in his groin area they recovered after arresting him Wednesday — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Despite self-interested claims from companies and governments, identity theft is extremely rare and the costs of cybercrime are significantly lower than claimed, new polling by Essential Research shows.
Crikey has previously examined overhyped reports from computer security companies aimed at generating additional sales for their products, hyping the Australian government has happily joined in. According to Attorney-General Nicola Roxon, identity fraud is one of Australia’s fastest growing crimes and one in four Australians had been a victim or had known someone who had been a victim of identity theft
.
The key to overhyping cybercrime is to conflate a variety of different crimes under one broad description. But now Essential has disentangled commonly-conflated crimes and asked people to estimate how much they actually cost. And the evidence comprehensively debunks the claims made about cybercrime.
According to Essential, just 1% of Australians report ever being the victim of identity theft. If identity theft is Australia’s fastest growing crime
as Nicola Roxon, the AFP and many media reports insists, then it must have been coming off a positively microscopic base.
Moreover, 43% of identity theft victims said they suffered no financial loss from the incident. Just over a third? — ?36% — ?said their loss was between $100 and $500; another 14% said it was between $500-1000. In fact, identity theft was the least expensive crime, averaging a cost of $230, well below the overall average cost of $330.
So, identity theft that actually costs people money has happened to 0.57% of Australians — via redwolf.newsvine.com
There’s a certain blacksmith shop feel to Shinya Kimura’s motorcycles, and I mean that in a good way. Looking at the bare aluminium bodywork of his latest creation, this cafe Harley Sportster, you get a sense of the heat and noise and sweat—the sheer effort and long hours—that went into its making. This is an all-metal motorcycle, and metal needs more than casual persuasion to take these shapes — via Bike EXIF
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